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NCAA: It's better to self-impose

St. Bonaventure coach Jan van Breda Kolff has been put on administrative leave and his team forced to forfeit six conference games this season due to NCAA violations.

Darrell Gronemeier/AP When Georgia officials suspended head basketball coach Jim Harrick and yanked the Bulldogs from postseason play, the university continued a policy for schools recently discovered to have run afoul with NCAA rules and regulations.

In other words, it's prudent for an institution to come forward and impose its own sanctions before the governing body for college athletics does it for you.

According to NCAA president Myles Brand, that's always a good idea.

"I think the system is working," Brand told the Associated Press after Georgia president Michael Adams and athletic director Vince Dooley said the school was withdrawing from both the Southeastern Conference and NCAA tournaments.

"I think the appropriate action was taken," he said.

Not just at Georgia, but also at other schools where internal investigations have confirmed violations, Brand added.

For example. Last November, the University of Michigan told the NCAA it was instituting a post-season ban on its men's basketball team after a booster admitted he gave money to players during the 1990s.

The Wolverines aren't alone.

On March 3, Fresno State president John D. Welty announced his Bulldogs would not play in the postseason this year after school officials discovered instances of academic fraud, including claims by a former student that he wrote papers for players for payment. The Western Athletic Conference also banned FSU from its postseason tournament.

That same day, St. Bonaventure was forced to forfeit six Atlantic 10 Conference victories and barred from the league's postseason tournament for using an ineligible player, a decision that led to the resignation of President Robert Wickenheiser. Athletic director Gothard Lane and head coach Jan van Breda Kolff were also placed on administrative leave by that school's board of trustees.

Tuesday, published reports indicated the Atlantic 10 might consider expelling the Bonnies from the league.

According to reports, the players suspended allegedly obtained an athletic department employee's secret telephone access number and used the code to run up long distance charges.

Villanova officials do not expect the players charged to face additional charges.

"This is going to be a tough couple of weeks for us," Villanova coach Jay Wright said in a statement through the school. "Villanova will be OK."

Time will tell. Recovering from sanctions, self-imposed or otherwise, is not always easy to do.

According to former Nevada Las Vegas coach Bill Bayno, that's not always easy to do.

Bayno came to UNLV hoping to clean up the mess left behind by former coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Record-wise, the Rebels did OK. UNLV went 94-64 in five-plus seasons under Bayno but never got past the first round of the NCAA tournament. But after the NCAA found additional violations in December of 2000, Bayno was fired.

"It's the nature of the business," Bayno said.

The University of Minnesota can feel UNLV's pain.

In October of 2000, the men's program at Minnesota was placed on four years' probation and stripped of five scholarships for what the NCAA described as academic fraud and some of "the most serious" rules violations in two decades.

But despite those losses associated with the sanctions, the Gophers still fielded competitive teams.

In 2000-2001, Minnesota finished 18-14 before going 18-13 in 2001-2002, a season which included a second-round appearance in the National Invitational Tournament.

The Gophers are 16-11 heading into this week's Big Ten Tournament.

Perhaps, Georgia can take solace in that.

In reacting to Georgia's actions, Brand credited Adams, along with Michigan's Mary Sue Coleman and Welty, for taking the actions they did.

"I figured that once he got the facts, he would take the appropriate action, and he (Adams) has," Brand said. "But I think we are starting to see a very important trend. I think the system is working."